Containers of preserved bones found broken in Mizoram

Aizwal, Dec 10: Glass containers used to preserve a pile of more than 360-year-old human bones in a cave likely used as a tomb centuries ago in eastern Mizoram have been broken open and some bones, including skulls, scattered in the cave.

Villagers of Farkawn, under whose territory the cave is located, said they are trying to ascertain if any of the bones have been stolen and will be filing a FIR soon. The site, known as Lamsial Puk, or Lamsial Cave, is being preserved with the help of the state’s Art and Culture Department.

“The department had sanctioned several glass cases to put the bones in, but when we visited the cave on December 5 we found that someone had broken the glass and strewn the bones on top of the case and elsewhere,” said K Lalmuankima, secretary of the Farkawn Heritage Preservation Society, which looks after the handful of historic sites in the vicinity of the village.

According to the society, the human bones at Lamsial Puk – located about 10 kms from Farkawn on a vertical rock-face of a forested hill – have been scientifically dated to be from the mid-17th century.

It is believed the bones are the remains of members of a community that inhabited present-day Mizoram before the current population moved in from Myanmar after having migrated south from China’s southern regions.